Hello again and welcome to the program. We're here with a little strength for today, particularly in the area of discouragement. It's so easy to get discouraged. We're looking at how to have the victories. The book of 2 Corinthians is written to individual Christians, and Paul said in chapter 4 and verse 1, therefore seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not. We all have a ministry here. It's not just people like Paul the Apostle and Peter and the different disciples. We all are here with a purpose as Christians, and therefore seeing we have this ministry, we better not faint. In Philemon 1 and 2, there's a man named Archippus. Have you ever heard a message on Archippus? I never have. All it says there is Archippus, our fellow soldier. So he's in the battle. Colossians 4 17, Paul wrote and said, say to Archippus, take heed to the ministry which thou has received in the Lord that thou fulfill it. We need to be sure to fulfill the ministry that God has given us, and we're not going to do that if we're discouraged. It says also in that verse, we faint not. Now you can faint physically, or we can faint mentally. Hebrews 12, 3 says, for consider him that endured such contradictions of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your mind. We can go through the motions of all the responsibilities we might have as Christians, as parents, and as pastors, and whatever. As a plumber, you have a responsibility, whatever we are. But we need to be careful that we don't faint in our minds while we're physically going through the motions. Now the secret is the power is of God and it's not of us. Chapter 4 and verse 7 of 2nd Corinthians says, but we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that's our bodies, that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We're not going to win this battle over discouragement in the power of the flesh. Paul the Apostle said in Romans 7, 18, For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. Now, he did find it. Why did he say, I find not? Well, because we're in the context here of the fact that he said, I know that in me that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, and in my flesh I find not how to have the victory here. Well, verse 1 says we faint not. Why do we not faint? Verse 7 says we have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We need to understand that. But not, verse 7 of chapter 4, Paul went on to say we are troubled on every side yet not distressed. We are perplexed but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed. How did he have the victory? That the power is of God and not of us. And verse 11 goes on to say that Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Another thing we find that Paul had the victory is found in 2 Corinthians 4 15 where he said, for all things are for your sake. All things are for your sake. Paul went through a lot of discouraging things in his life, but he said, we're doing all things for your sake. If we can keep our focus on our ministry is to help others. My wife and I traveled in the fifth wheel for several years, just traveling from church to church across Canada, trying to be an encourager. We had a slogan that said, if we can help somebody as we travel along, Our living shall not be in vain. We had it printed on our stationary. That was our focus. Well, we had six tires on that fifth wheel, and we had a truck with a dually, it was, which means it also had six tires. And over a period of time, we had 32 flat tires. Now, fixing flat tires on the side of the road can be very discouraging, but we kept on focusing. Hey, we're doing this to help somebody. If we can help somebody as we travel along, our living shall not be in vain. If we keep a focus on others, it will help the discouragement problem. However, the real secret to having the victory over discouragement is found in 2 Corinthians 4, 16, where Paul said, For which cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. A day-by-day renewal of the inward man. Now, if we're going to renew the outward man, we're going to keep that body working. We need to eat. And exactly the same thing is spiritually true. If we're going to have the power, we need to be in the Word of God every day. and make sure that the Word of God is in us. Finally, we see Paul's perspective in 2 Corinthians 4, 17 for our late affliction. He called it late affliction. Check what he went through. For our late affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Now we can focus on the moment, or we can focus on the eternal weight of glory. He said in verse 18, while we look not at the things which are seen, but the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.